As the University of Idaho football team prepares for its season opener, a Lewiston native is turning gameweek promotion into something worth framing — literally. Senior studio art and design student Emma Cuddy is hand-painting oil portraits of Vandal players, one per game, in a campaign that has already drawn national attention just days after launching.
The project began when Richard Pathomsiri, UI Athletics’ video production director, spotted Cuddy’s work at a student art show and brought her on to create the series. Each portrait features a different player set against a background tied to the opposing team and game location. The paintings are posted to UI’s football social media accounts at the start of each gameweek, giving fans something distinctive to mark each matchup on the schedule.
From Studio to Social Media Sensation
The first painting — a portrait of quarterback Joshua Wood — went up Monday, timed to the team’s upcoming Friday opener on the road at Cal Poly. In keeping with the concept, the background incorporated imagery connected to Cal Poly, including the school’s mustang mascot and Morro Rock, a local landmark. Every painting in the series is designed to incorporate a nod to the opposing school’s identity in some form.
Cuddy photographed players during UI’s media day to build a reference library, then works through each piece by first creating a digital template in Photoshop before moving to paint. The process blends traditional technique with modern tools, resulting in portraits that have a handcrafted quality that stands apart from the digitally generated graphics that have become common in collegiate sports marketing.
That distinction appears to be part of the appeal. The project went viral on X shortly after the first painting appeared, and Cuddy has since been contacted by The New York Times, KTVB-TV in Boise, and Sports Illustrated. A piece on whiskeyriff.com also published Monday, helping push the story beyond Idaho’s borders.
Cuddy told the Lewiston Tribune that Pathomsiri brought the concept to her and deserves credit for getting it started. “He was the one who approached me with the idea and kind of got it all rolling,” she said.
She also weighed in on the broader conversation about artificial intelligence replacing human artists in sports and media production. “I think generative AI specifically is just a bunch of garbage honestly,” Cuddy told the Tribune — a sentiment that has resonated with audiences who have watched AI-generated imagery flood social media feeds over the past several years.
A Local Artist Making a Mark
Cuddy is being compensated for her work, and Pathomsiri is in the process of planning an auction for the completed paintings once the season wraps up. Proceeds from the auction are expected to benefit both Vandal Athletics and Cuddy directly, giving the project a longer tail beyond the social media splash.
For a senior from Lewiston studying art at a university just up the highway in Moscow, the exposure has been swift and substantial. National outlets reaching out within the first 48 hours of the campaign’s launch is an unusual platform for a student artist, and it highlights how authenticity — real brushwork, real technique, real creative process — can cut through digital noise in ways that polished but generic graphics often cannot.
The Vandals open their season Friday at Cal Poly. Fans can follow the portrait series throughout the year at instagram.com/idahovandalsfb and x.com/VandalFootball, where each new painting will debut at the start of the corresponding gameweek.
The University of Idaho campus has seen several major projects underway this summer, including a nine-month bridge replacement project closing Perimeter Drive and ongoing construction work affecting the campus golf course and restaurant. Football season brings a different kind of attention to the Palouse — and this year, one student artist is making sure the Vandals’ arrival on the national stage comes with a handmade touch.
What Comes Next
Cuddy is expected to complete a new portrait for each game on the Vandals’ schedule throughout the 2026 season. As the auction plans take shape, details about how fans and supporters can participate are expected to be shared through UI Athletics channels. For now, all eyes are on Friday’s opener at Cal Poly — and on whatever canvas comes next.